Live: Latest updates from Sheffield & Barnsley Local Elections 2023

Reduced bus fare for South Yorkshire’s under-21s part of £860m investment strategy

3:54pm

Sheffield teens and young adults will be paying less for their bus journeys after a new investment strategy was approved. Economic support in the form of reduced bus fares was promised for South Yorkshire's under-21s at a Mayoral Combined Authority (MCA) board meeting which discussed a new investment strategy for South Yorkshire this morning. The strategy, which sees the utilisation of £860m of MCA funding to help support the region's economy following the pandemic, promises an an 80p single bus fare for those under 21 in an attempt strengthen the ability of young people to access and connect to jobs and training opportunities. Mayor of Sheffield City Region Dan Jarvis said: “This is a hugely significant moment for South Yorkshire. The proposals in this paper give us real fire power to unlock growth in the economy and to support our young people. I commend the work that members and officers have done to get us to this point." Set to last for a year beginning June 21, estimates put the cost of introducing the concession in the region of £6.7m. Addressing the board meeting, Sheffield City Region Chief Executive Dr Dave Smith said: “Due to the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on the region’s young people it was felt necessary to apply additional targeting on a time-limited basis to support young people and young adults seeking to recover from the impact of the economy, on jobs and prospects." On a national level, 60 per cent of the reduction in pay rolled employees since March 2020 has been in people aged under 25, and the redundancy rate is much higher for people aged 16-24 according to the MCA's report. South Yorkshire's investment strategy is also set to spend £340m on transport and environment, housing and infrastructure, education, skills and employability and business growth and recovery.

From Croquet to Quidditch: Find out how Sheffield clubs are preparing for the return of grassroots sports

3:49pm

Image credit: Sheffield Hockey Club On March 29th the latest easing of lockdown restrictions come into place, which will allow outdoor sport facilities to reopen to the public. In light of this, here's a snapshot of some of Sheffield's local sports clubs to see how they are preparing to return to action and how you can join in. Croquet Eugene Chang, Chairman of Sheffield Croquet Club, said that due to Croquet being a very socially-distanced friendly sport, sales had gone up in equipment by 600% at some retailers: "It's been really good for people's mental health, that they were able to do something different to walking. We are going to be reopening at Easter, we are open for general membership. If people want to come as a small group to try it out we can provide sanitised equipment for them to use." https://www.facebook.com/SheffieldCroquetClub Football Barney Chart, President of Sheffield Union Football Club: "We plan on resuming a routine training programme from 29 March, and making sure players are available over Easter to start playing in the Brian and Judith Bradley Memorial Cup from 3 April for the first team. The second team have league fixtures to play out until the end of the season. The lads are absolutely raring to get going again with a lot of the second team players pushing for a spot in the first team. It is a great chance to get our hands on some silverware after a long time out!" Hockey Sheffield Hockey Club: "Sheffield Hockey Club is excited at the prospect of resuming grass roots sports and getting back on the pitch. We are awaiting with hope for the guidance to be issued this week from England Hockey’s conversations with the government and are putting plans in place to proceed with caution in managing our Covid protocols, which we successfully deployed last year to assure the safety of our members. I would sum it up as cautiously excited!"

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Rugby Union Hallamshire RUFC: "At the moment we’re waiting on the Rugby Football Union for guidance details, the general plan so far is to start with limited contact training after the 29th March. This will involve handling drills, uncontested rucking etc. To allow players to get back to the swing of rugby. Once the May milestone passes we can play modified rugby against other clubs, June would see a return to full contact rugby with Rucks, mauls etc. It looks like rugby will be back to normal next season, at the earliest at the moment. As ever though Hallamshire will welcome anyone who wants to come take part, we run a men’s senior team (18+) and will be posting updates on training on our Facebook page as plans are confirmed." Quidditch Amit Portnoy, President of Sheffield Quidditch Club: "Once the rule of 6 is in place from the 29th of March, we will be able to hold socially distant 6 person trainings in our usual spot at the Ponderosa. If anyone wants to join, there will be links to sign up to training." https://www.facebook.com/sheffieldquidditchclub/ Tennis Jonathan Wragg, head coach at Fulwood Sports Club: "We have 3 weeks of children’s Easter camps and the normal junior programme will start again in the summer term. Our men’s and ladies teams are also keen to be back playing matches later in April. I am sure the tennis courts will be very busy with people enjoying the chance to play again. " With a host of sporting activities to choose from, those in Sheffield should be excited at the prospect of getting back out onto the pitches, courts and parks which they have sorely missed out on over the last few months.

Plans for new indoor bouldering centre in Sheffield unveiled

3:43pm

Plans have been put forward to turn a disused warehoused unit into a large indoor bouldering centre at in Burngreave. The project is being run by Grip UK, alongside Urbanspace Planning to make use of the abandoned space at 15 Sutherland Street, Burngreave. The company, which trades under the name 'The Climbing Hangar', is planning for a 1430 sq. metre conversion of the existing warehouse to provide a "unique leisure experience comprising a centre for climbers of all levels to practice bouldering." The Climbing Hangar have been operating for a decade, with sites in Liverpool, Plymouth, Swansea and London, and with the upcoming Tokyo Olympics debuting rock climbing as an Olympic sport, the excitement surrounding the sport is reaching new heights. Their planning application adds: "Following the success of, and demand for, The Climbing Hangar’s existing operations, the operator has identified an opportunity to open a new centre to cater for the catchment area to the east of Sheffield, where the sport is increasingly growing in popularity. The proposed use is aimed at catering for the surrounding local area." Positioned only a mile away from the city centre, and readily accessed by public transport, the proposed centre is ideally situated for its "core target audience of 16 to 45-year olds."

The proposal lays out plans to convert this disused warehouse into a 1000+ sq. ft indoor bouldering centre. Credit: Google Street View

The news has been met by overwhelming positivity from rock climbing and bouldering enthusiasts. Casey Hartley, 21, of Beighton, said: "I love rock climbing, Sheffield is a hub for all kinds of sports and there are a few different places where you can go and practice but it is great to see another one look to open." "I have not been able to do it since the first lockdown a year ago, bouldering is loads of fun and really safe too. With the Olympic games featuring the sport this summer hopefully we will see more people get involved in it." The prospect of participation in the sport exponentially growing following its exposure at the upcoming Olympic games has solid grounding. Following women's boxing being added to the London 2012 Olympic roster, women's boxing has exploded and has created household names out of Nicola Adams, Katie Taylor and Claressa Shields. Benjamin Livingstone, 29, of Doncaster, hopes that he will see the sport he loves follow a similar trajectory: "I would love to see people like Adam Ondra and Chris Sharma get the recognition they deserve. They are both climbing world champions but outside of our community nobody really knows who they are." "Sheffield has a storied past of creating world champions in a variety of sports and now with this new project hopefully one day we will see an Olympic champion in climbing from there too." The proposal aims to recruit 15 staff on part-time contracts and 15 more on full-time, all from local areas where possible. They aim to be open from 6:30AM to 10PM throughout the week and 9AM to 8PM on the weekend.

Sheffield MP accuses Government of electoral point scoring with new levelling up funding

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A Sheffield MP has lashed out at the Government for failing to provide any means to measure the success of their levelling up fund. The £4.8bn fund is intended to improve infrastructure around the UK but lacks a clear measure of impact, according to Sheffield South MP Clive Betts. "If levelling up is really to work, we need to set clear and tangible criteria to judge its success ahead of time, otherwise it will become nothing more than a political football for the Government to throw around with no impact on the real world,” he said. Mr Betts last week questioned the Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Eddie Hughes MP, on how the Government will measure the success of the the fund. Mr Hughes responded: "If we're going to determine the success of these projects, the British electorate will probably do that at the next General Election, so I look forward to seeing how that turns out." Following the exchange, Mr Betts pointed out there are multiple ways the Government could measure the fund's success, including monitoring levels of deprivation and poverty, or life expectancy. "However, it is telling the Government have no interest in any of these and it seems suggestive that this whole manifesto was just for electoral point scoring rather than improving people’s lives in communities that have been left behind,” he added. The allocation of the Levelling Up Fund has also faced criticism, with 39 of the 45 new grants revealed earlier this month going to towns with a Conservative MP. “If the Government are not going to allocate funds where they are needed most, or publish any success criteria for the projects they fund, their levelling up agenda is just noise, and a poor disguise for pork barrel politics,” Mr Betts said.

Local Area Committees approved during fraught council meeting, after “eight wasted years”

3:21pm

Sheffield's local communities are to be given back the power to make changes in their own areas. Sheffield City Council is to re-establish Local Area Committees (LACs) across the city "eight wasted years" after they were abolished. The proposal for seven new LACs was headed last Thursday by Labour councillors who called the motion the "first huge step in empowering our communities." However, some Liberal Democrat councillors, who also supported the introduction of the scheme, were enraged, claiming to have proposed similar schemes over the last eight years only for them to be turned down. The phrase "eight wasted years" was used first by Cllr Andrew Sangar and continued to be repeated throughout the debate by annoyed Liberal Democrat councillors.

The extraordinary meeting was held over Zoom

LACs used to exist in Sheffield but were abolished by the Labour ruling administration at the time in favour of Local Area Partnerships (LAPs). LAPs did not have devolved powers and were therefore limited in their ability to respond to the needs of their communities. The new committees will serve individual communities within the city from May 2021. They will have their own budgets and elected decision-making authorities to ensure communities can make decisions which best serve their unique interests and needs. The aim is to shift power away from the Town Hall in an attempt to engage and empower Sheffield citizens to have a greater role and direct say on key issues in their communities.

Sheffield Town Hall

Cllr Alison Teal, Green Party, said she was angered by the proposal and called the motion a "sham" as she, along with other members of the Council, were not consulted and neither were many Sheffield residents who the changes will directly affect. She also suggested the rush to get the new system approved was politically motivated due to the proximity of the decision to the local council elections which will be held in May. Her Green Party colleague Cllr Kaltum Rivers also expressed disappointment at the rushed proposal, adding community leaders were disappointed they had not been listened to. However, Cllr Tony Damms, Labour, heralded the introduction of LACs as "a step forward by giving members of our communities a voice." At the meeting, leader of the council Cllr Bob Johnson said they would be doubling the ward monetary pots and giving an extra £100,000 to each LAC to tackle graffiti, fly-tipping and littering in their area.

Sheffield skyline

This caused confusion among other councillors, with Cllr Ian Auckland, Liberal Democrats, highlighting the point of the scheme was to give communities the ability to decide where their budgets were spent. Despite Labour councillors having to contend with an "opposition of mardy bums" according to deputy leader Cllr Terry Fox, the majority of the council agreed more power at a local level was good for Sheffield communities and voted the proposal through. Cllr Auckland said: "The local approach is about repairing confidence in politics and part of the solution to restoring trust in local politics."

Sheffield councillor secures centrally monitored CCTV trial for Woodhouse community ‘scared witless’ by gang activity

3:06pm

A Sheffield community terrorised by gang violence is to trial a new centrally monitored CCTV system after Labour councillors gained funding. Cllr Mick Rooney has announced a 10-camera CCTV system is to be set up in Woodhouse in an effort to crack down on anti-social behaviour and crime. This comes after residents declared they had lost faith in the police and the local council following a shooting in Woodhouse earlier this month. Cllr Rooney said: “We take the situation in Woodhouse very seriously with the anti-social behaviour that has been taking place and we’re trying to put a stop it, it’s that simple. “We’ve been working on this plan for quite some time, and we’ve managed to put together something that will hopefully reassure people that we take them seriously.” The trial, which will be paid for out of the Community Safety Fund, will see the 10 cameras placed at points within the community which offer maximum coverage, the feed will then be sent live to a monitoring room from which operators will notify the police of any suspicious activity. Street Wardens with the power to issue on the spot fines will also be introduced to the area.

Councillor Mick Rooney has gained funding to introduce a centrally monitored CCTV system in the Woodhouse area. This... Posted by Woodhouse Ward Labour Councillors on Friday, 19 March 2021

Cllr Rooney said, if the trial proves to be a success, they will then be looking at expanding the use of these systems across the city. The proposal was greeted with a mixture of relief and scepticism within the Woodhouse community, which has seen a sharp rise in criminal activity. Many in the community took to Facebook to welcome the announcement. One resident said: “Well done Mick, we are lucky to have such a proactive passionate councillor.” However, Woodhouse resident Ben Deighton criticised the council for their slow response. He said: “Not to say it’s a bad thing getting the cameras; however the praise is misguided. “Up to four weeks ago, local councillors, MPs and police were adamant that there was no problem with crime in our area. It has taken certain Facebook groups to prove this is not the case. “The groups in question would not be fobbed off and kept on at councillors, MPs and police until something was done.” Frustrated by the lack of action being taken to curb these crimes, Mr Deighton set up the Facebook group ‘S13 and S12 criminal activity evidence and patrol information’ in September, alongside Michelle Wong, after his car was broken into. Mr Deighton said: “[Residents] have had enough now, it’s scaring everybody witless. Initially it was breaking into vehicles, now they’ve stepped it up. Now it’s gun crime. “People are constantly looking over their shoulders and they feel it’s unsafe to go out your property.” Cllr Rooney acknowledged the role of local community groups in bringing the severity of the problem to their attention. He said: “They have been helpful in highlighting the issues and they have been a contributory factor, but there were others involved. We have responded to public concern. That’s what we do, it’s the duty of a public servant to respond to the issues that people raise with us.” South Yorkshire Police declined to comment on the situation in Woodhouse.

Ed Cosens of Reverend and the Makers talks lockdown, Leadmill and live music’s return

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Credit- Ed Cosens Amidst a difficult year for the music industry, Ed Cosens of Reverend and the Makers talks about his solo project, the impact of the pandemic on artists and his excitement for the return of live shows. “I’ve been doing gigs since I was in school- the last time I didn’t play live for a year I was probably 13.” It’s safe to say the past 12 months have been strange for Ed Cosens. As guitarist for Sheffield’s own Reverend and the Makers, well-renowned for their raucous performances, the stage has become like a second home. The pandemic has closed venues for now, but even more frustratingly, it has forced Cosens to twice postpone the release of his solo album, Fortunes Favour. “The album was recorded just before lockdown, so that was done- getting the album out there is what got kiboshed. “It’s really hard at times, waiting to release something that you wrote three years ago and recorded 18 months ago- it’s a long time to wait to put it out there and show people. It’s been very challenging but thankfully we are nearly at the end of that road and the next part of the journey can begin.”

Credit- Ed Cosens

That journey has been a long time in the making. It was a decade ago that Cosens first considered embarking on a solo project, and it has taken patience to cultivate that newborn idea into the album now awaiting release on 9 April. “At the time it didn’t feel right to take that break. I hadn’t quite figured out what it was I wanted to do and how I wanted to sound. “About three years ago I started to get a batch of songs together that I was a lot happier with, I had a direction for them and a bit of confidence in what I was trying to do. When we got a natural gap from what we were doing as Reverend and the Makers, it allowed me to pursue it properly. “It’s very much a personal record. This is my first real foray into presenting my lyrics to the world, so I needed it to mean something to me, and to feel comfortable with what I was talking about. “It reflects on a lot of life experiences: the classic things you go through growing up, falling in and out of love, relationships with work and people- it’s all in there. People will recognise and connect with the themes of the songs and understand a lot of what I’m talking about.” For all the disruption of the past 12 months, Cosens admits that the pandemic has also afforded him artistic opportunities that might otherwise have failed to materialise. “It’s been difficult obviously, but it has allowed us time to think about the album a bit more. We got the chance to focus on developing the visual side and the music videos even further, which we wouldn’t have got if it had been released when we intended. “It’s been awful for the industry, but creatively, it has given people the space to do interesting things.” Indeed, Cosens is one of the few Sheffielders lucky enough to have found himself in The Leadmill in recent weeks. Although the doors to this cornerstone of Sheffield’s musical heritage remain closed, he was able to take advantage of its empty schedule to film the video for Lovers Blues on its stage. “It was great being able to film it in Leadmill, an iconic venue and somewhere I’ve played many times- to get in there and do that almost felt like playing a gig. “It was a little tantalising view of what hopefully will come back to us sooner rather than later.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFq7caFcFXM Cosens is yet to schedule any gigs, hoping to avoid the pattern of organising and cancelling shows that has become the norm over the last year. However, his anticipation for the return of live music, whenever that happens, was evident throughout. “There’s going to be huge excitement- those first few gigs are going to be carnage. It will be really interesting to see quite how it pans out, but they’re going to be electric, let’s be honest.” As well as those exhilarating atmospheres, Cosens was also looking forward to a change of pace, swapping some of the stages graced by Reverend and the Makers for smaller, more intimate venues. “There’s something beautiful and wonderful about playing a smaller club. You’re so much closer to everybody, it’s a different electricity in the room with a smaller amount of people- I’m definitely excited about that. ”The first time I go out on stage, it will almost be like starting again. Hopefully we capture that initial excitement and buzz that we had when we first started with Reverend, the audience will feed off that and it’ll be a similar kind of energy.” Of course, it would have been rude not to ask a member of one of Sheffield’s best loved bands about what makes the city so conducive to musical innovation. For Cosens, there is a mentality within these seven hills that sets it apart from the rest of the country. “There’s something about the makeup and landscape of Sheffield- there’s an underlying mental attitude of creativity and self-deprecation that lends itself to a very interesting way of working. Over the years we’ve had various scenes and pockets that have sprung up and highlighted that. “The way that Manchester and Liverpool shout about themselves, Sheffield does the opposite, but it gives us that edge that other places don’t have, and it contributes to those bursts of creativity that really strike a chord with people.” https://open.spotify.com/artist/6SRfhRHP8UApg1gQdin1nf?si=9RhIq2TjSDy6gvob5qromA

Fargate and High Street to receive £15m to save Sheffield’s struggling retail scene

2:56pm

Sheffield's historic high street will be receiving £15,817,001 in funding to restructure the city's struggling retail economy. Sheffield Fargate and High Street were one of only 15 areas across England that would be receiving the full amount of funding requested under the Future High Streets Fund from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. A new cultural hub called 'Events Central' will be opened to provide a space to host exhibitions and events, as well as a café and a co-working space. The council believes this would create an environment for an experience that would attract visitors to spend more time in the city centre. The report claims the proposal can attract an additional "110,000 visitors to the City Centre, and create up to 505 jobs." The council will also be implementing a ‘Front Door Scheme’ to work with landowners through grant assistance and open-up new direct front door access to upper floors to enable their conversion for new uses. Fargate and High Street account for one-tenth of city centre retail space, with 103 retail and leisure units. A year ago, vacancy rates stood at just under 25%, above national trends. However, vacancy numbers have increased due to closures under the impact of Covid-19. Proposal for Fargate: Proposal for High Street:

Five books which detail the East Asian and Southeast Asian experience

2:34pm

As Asian hate crimes soar, understanding the community has never been more important. Last week’s events in Atlanta sent a wave of terror through the ESEA community, both in the US and around the world. A man’s shooting spree across massage parlours in Georgia killed eight people, six of whom were women of Asian descent. USA Today unveiled the personal stories behind each of the tragic victims, who were hard workers, dedicated mothers and business owners. This racist hatred is not new, nor is it only prevalent in the US. According to the advocacy group End the Virus of Racism, there has been a 300 per cent increase in hate crimes towards people of East and Southeast Asian heritage since the start of the pandemic. In February 2020, international Singaporean student Jonathan Mok was assaulted so badly he needed surgery. In broad daylight. This escalation of attacks led to the trending hashtag #StopAsianHate – both a collective gesture to show solidarity within the ESEA community, and a plea to the world to lend support in the anti-racism movement. These hate crimes, spurred on by racist rhetoric from politicians like Donald Trump, project Asians as monolithic. Stories by people of Asian heritage, from East and Southeast Asia to the Pacific Islands, provide a much-needed window into their lives, emotions and experiences. This piece brings to the fore books which illuminate what it is to be East and Southeast Asian, dispel the clichés and change the cultural narrative – currently so saturated with outdated stereotypes – one story at a time. To read them is to begin a journey of allyship, which is needed now more than ever.

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Go Home! – edited by Royan Hisayo Buchanan, foreword by Viet Thanh Nguyen

This collection of works explores the meaning of "home" through an array of fiction, poetry and memoir. Published in collaboration with the Asian American Writers' Workshop, the book complicates the idea of home as a physical place, and instead shows how its meaning can be found in food, relationships, journeys and language. While this reflection on home is a universal human concern, it becomes particularly dire for those whose identities make them vulnerable to the threat of never belonging. Like many Asian immigrants, our experience with racism has traditionally occurred through being painted as the perpetual foreigner, the yellow peril or brown terror, with unbreakable ties to a land of origin. The beauty of a home in storytelling is that it allows us to create a multiplicity of homes which no one can completely take away.

Image credit: AK Press

Ru – Kim Thúy

On a starless November night in 1978, crowds of Vietnamese people, including Kim Thúy, huddled aboard a storm-battered boat bound for Malaysia. Crouched in darkness, refugees became numb to the smell of urine, sweat and fear that engulfed them. Night and day became indistinguishable. Thúy was ten years old when the Vietnam War ended with the fall of her hometown Saigon – old enough to recall the deathly silence that besieged the once-lively capital, and the transformation of red gao blossoms into bomb craters. Following the communist takeover of Saigon in 1975, a million so-called “boat people” like Thúy took to the oceans, braving the threat of not only starvation, but rape and murder at the hands of pirates. Ru is a work of autofiction, blending the author's lived experience with fiction. Readers witness the immense hardships faced by the narrator Nguyen An Tinh, who, like Thúy, journeys from Vietnam to Canada, struggles to integrate into Quebec society, returns to Vietnam as a lawyer, and experiences motherhood. Watch the video below to hear more from the author. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oq0wrDVXS9E

All You Can Ever Know – Nicole Chung

What is it like for a Korean adoptee to grow up in a white family, couched in the American suburbs? In this searing but delicate memoir, Chung shares the personal decisions and compromises she confronts both as an adoptee and as a mother-to-be. Born very prematurely in 1981 to Korean immigrants, Chung was immediately adopted by white Americans, a doting couple from Oregon who, after so many years of trying for a baby, believed her survival and arrival with them was a “gift from God”. The memoir’s greatest triumph is in its insistence on complicating the rescue narrative of transracial adoption without resorting to straightforward indictments of any particular worldview. While breaking the silence on her racial isolation and confusion, Chung teases out the limits of her adoptive parents’ race-blindness with compassion. There is joy; the adult Chung forges bonds with her biological sister and the pair experience motherhood in unison. There are unsettling revelations too, and her search for answers stirs anxieties familiar to us all. Rewriting race into the adoption narrative, Chung's decade-long journey expands our language for exploring the disorderly margins of familial legacies.

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous – Ocean Vuong

“‘On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous’ is a letter from a son to a mother who cannot read," the blurb says. Expressing the pain and agony of the Asian experience is not just challenging in the wider world, it can be a struggle within our own families and communities too. In the Vietnamese-American author's debut novel, Ocean Vuong captures the emotions and sacrifices of a poor immigrant family – along with the trauma of that journey handed down multiple generations – which are almost impossible to explain. The book begins during the narrator Little Dog’s childhood, as he collects fractured memories of his mother to share with her. Vuong, who was born in Ho Chi Minh City before immigrating to Connecticut when he was two, untangles the threads of queerness, class, drugs, and depression which shadowed his upbringing. Each beautifully crafted sentence reads like poetry, inching us closer to Vuong's voice, his feelings of shame and desire.

Portrait of Ocean Vuong in the playground behind the house where he grew up in Glastonbury, Connecticut in 2019. Image credit: The Atlantic.

The Kiss Quotient – Helen Hoang

This romance novel centres on Stella Lane, an autistic heroine who hires an escort in order to boost her confidence with sex, relationships and setting boundaries. The author, Helen Hoang, is of Southeast Asian descent and was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder as she was writing the book, aged 34. We are immersed in Lane's triumphs and anxieties as she takes charge of her life and her sexuality on her terms, while also learning how to lean on someone for help, for support, for intimacy. In her quirky fun way, Hoang insists that there is power, and with it, agency, in self-love.

EXCLUSIVE: Meadowhall employees enraged over staff parking policy: “Nobody should be expected to walk that far to a car park in the middle of nowhere at those times of the night.”

2:21pm

Staff members at Meadowhall are furious over the shopping centre's policy of fining workers for using the main car parks, amidst rising fear for women's safety. Employees are required to park 10 to 15 minutes away from the mall on Alsing Road, forcing them to risk their safety in the dark after shifts.

Photo credits: Charlotte Bamford

Shannon Louisee, a former employee, said: "Walking to the staff car park was eerie with not many street lights about. We had to walk past lots of bushes and by the river with minimal street lighting. "There were odd times where there may be random folk following behind, then you are constantly watching behind you until you have reached your car and locked yourself in where you finally felt safe at last. "Nobody should be expected to walk that far to a car park in the middle of nowhere at those times of the night." Employees said security members would sometimes offer to walk female staff members to the car park, but this was not always possible during the busier periods of the year. Ms Louise eventually resorted to not registering her license number with the mall so she could park in the customer parking which made her feel safer after ending work during later hours in the night. The policy, implemented in 2014, aimed to encourage employees to opt for sustainable modes of transport by reducing the availability of parking spaces. The separate 'staff parking only' car park was designed to reduce the number of people driving to work by 10 per cent and increase the number of people taking public transport by 60 per cent. Another employee Emma Leader said: "It was scary, and I was frustrated that we were made to park there. I always said that we should have had priority over customers, nine times out of 10 customers would not go to Meadowhall alone so it is safer for them to walk to the overflow/staff car parks."

A spokesperson for Meadowhall said they will be taking the feedback into consideration.

“We want everyone to feel safe making their way to and from our centre and encourage anyone using our staff car park to use the dedicated footpath which is fully lit and monitored with CCTV 24 hours a day.

“The car park already has dedicated security marshals and we will be increasing this provision to provide further comfort to our colleagues in the coming weeks. We also work closely with our onsite community policing team to ensure the safety of everyone visiting and working in our centre.”

Sheffield divers return to Ponds Forge after a year of challenges

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This year has been full of challenges for Sheffield Diving Club. Last week marked the first anniversary of the closure of their training facility, Ponds Forge, when divers were asked to leave the pool and the country headed into lockdown. Things did not get much better from there. When indoor facilities were allowed to reopen last summer, Sheffield City Trust decided that Ponds Forge was too expensive to reopen and announced it would remain shut until April 2021. After a huge campaign to overturn the decision, the council invested £1.6 million to allow the pool to reopen at the end of October. However, 10 days later, the country went back into lockdown, and the pool was forced to close its doors once more.

Ponds Forge Diving Club.

Sheffield Diving will be allowed to return to Ponds Forge this week, but only for five of their most elite athletes to train. The pool will open to the wider public on 12 April, providing the government’s criteria in their lockdown exit strategy is met. Nikki Smith, a former diver and coach, is now the Diving Manager at Ponds Forge and said: “If there’s been a bit of bad luck, we’ve had it." "Everyone’s desperate to get back in the pool again. It really shows you what you take for granted. I can’t wait to just stand by the side of the pool and watch people dive and do what they enjoy – keeping fit and keeping healthy,” she said. Ponds Forge was opened in 1991 for the World Student Games and became home Sheffield Diving Club. The club has had an olympian at every Olympic games since 1992.

Sheffield diver Rebecca Vega. Credit: David Keep Photography.

Though the club are unsure whether this year’s Tokyo Olympics will go ahead, they have 24 divers are on national programmes - from kids aged 11 on the England squad, to divers that are competing at the top level for team GB. 13-year-old Maisie Bond is currently the youngest diver on the British diving squad - even younger than when Tom Daly was put on. She is one of the few who will return this week and is currently training for the commonwealth games, with her eye on the Paris 2024 Olympics. The club were recently shortlisted in the Sport and Community Recreation awards, for ‘Resilience in Adversity,’ an acknowledgement of their dedication to keep the divers going through lockdown. Since they were first ordered to stay at home, the club have held a huge range of online sessions for their athletes. Whether it is online Taekwondo, yoga, or ballet, they have found creative ways maintain their athletes’ strength and fitness.

The Sheffield Divers try an Australian Style quiz and fitness session. Credit: Sheffield Diving

However, as well as their physical training, the club have also found ways to keep the athletes’ spirits up and bring the team closer. “We’ve done club zoom quizzes, scavenger hunts, cooking, bingo, and even lego competitions. It’s brought us together in a lot of ways,” said Mrs Smith. "Just looking back on the things we’ve done this year, it makes you smile. There’s a lot of good times we can look back on and some good memories."

Sheffield councillors squabble over school crossing ahead of upcoming election

1:57pm

An ongoing social media spat between Sheffield city councillors has seen a Liberal Democrat candidate accused of spreading fake news. The claim was made on the 'Mosborough Ward Labour Councillors' Facebook page over the weekend, where it was also claimed Liberal Democrats have "jumped on the bandwagon" to claim credit for a new crossing.

More Lib Dem Fake News Lib Dem candidate trying to claim credit for the hard work put in by local Labour Councillor... Posted by Mosborough Ward Labour Councillors on Saturday, 20 March 2021

Lord Mayor Tony Downing, Labour councillor for Mosborough, said: "They're trying to claim credit for something that I fought hard for and got." Plans to begin work installing a new crossing on Station Road were announced last week, following years of demand for increased road safety measures from residents. The crossing will be located close to Halfway Nursery and Infant School and part time 20mph speed zones will be introduced during school drop off times. The announcement comes after Liberal Democrat candidate Kurtis Crossland presented a petition to the council calling for a new crossing in February 2020. The petition, which gained 500 signatures, was launched by Mr Crossland and Mosborough councillors Gail Smith and Kevin Oxley. The 'Mosborough Ward Labour Councillors' Facebook page claimed the new progress was thanks to the work of Cllr Dowling and Sheffield South East MP Clive Betts. "I'm not saying they weren't concerned, but Labour has taken over everything young Kurtis has done and claimed it as their own. Now I think that's unfair," said Cllr Smith. She also said when petition was first presented to the council in early 2020, they were told the crossing wouldn't be a possibility. In October 2020 funding was then secured for the crossing. Cllr Downing said he had been working toward this goal for over 10 years, with the limitations of the Council's road safety budget meaning the crossing has only recently become feasible. He explained priority is given to roads where serious accidents have occurred, so it took time for this crossing to reach the top of the list. "We've been talking about it for years. It had already been decided, before they even started the petition," he added.

Posted by Mosborough Community Forum on Thursday, 18 March 2021

Both parties believe their opposition has claimed credit for the crossing because of the upcoming local election on 6 May. "It's politics," Cllr Downing said, but added he was ultimately pleased with what has been achieved. "As long as we get a crossing it doesn't matter whose been campaigning because that's not what I'm in politics for. I'm in politics because I want to make a difference in my area," said Cllr Smith.